Ronna Timpa, Founder of
Workplace ESL Solutions, was recently invited to participate on a panel about ESL products. Below are some excerpts from that interview.
Question: How does your organization incorporate
technology into the teaching of ESL?
Answer: With ESL, we don't use technology in the
classroom. We use a flipchart as the only teaching
medium. Some of our customers have purchased our
new product: Hotel English Online and we are
offering a blended learning approach. They do the
online learning at home and we meet every two
weeks for a "lab" of sorts. We practice role plays and
answer questions.
Question: Do your students have access to computers
(either their own or use of your organization's)?
Answer: Some of the organizations have computer labs. Our largest customer adds a
computer training at the end of our workplace ESL class. These students have very
limited experience with computers. Probably half of them don't have an email
account. Most of them do not have internet at home. They use computers at the
library.
Question: Do your students use their cell phones for studying or
communicating in English?
Answer: Most of our students (housekeepers, public area workers, kitchen workers)
do not have a smart phone. Probably about 20% have an iphone and the rest have
older flip phones. I would say 5% of our students would use the dictionary app,
but that's it.
Question: If you have used online programs for teaching ESL, what were the
main challenges?
Answer: We just started using our Hotel English Online and
our biggest challenge was the LMS. Vegas PBS is working on our own
portal right now because the procedure in which students get into the
program is too difficult for them. Too many screens and not easy
enough to navigate. Once they are in, they are good, but getting in
and signing up is the challenge.
Question: What were the benefits?
Answer: Being able to listen and repeat a million times.
Question: How have you addressed speaking (including pronunciation) and writing
online, given that such activities generally require feedback or interaction?
Answer: They listen and repeat. We have pronunciation videos
with practice exercises. Our goal for Hotel English Online is oral
communication.
Question: What are some of your favorite resources (online and print) for
teaching ESL?
Answer: Of course our products - that's why we wrote them in
the first place. Textbooks: Hotel English and Workplace English. Our
online program (partnership with Vegas PBS) Ronna Timpa's HotelEnglish Online.
I also love Betty Azar's Basic English Grammar - her
entire series. Great interactive exercises for teaching contextualized
grammar. I also like all the picture dictionaries - I have used Word
by Word the most. Otherwise, I develop all our curriculum based on
needs assessments and job shadowing for each company we teach at. We
often use one of our books as the core, but other times we only use
customized material. It depends on the needs of the company.
Question: Do you use translations when teaching beginning-level students?
Answer: No, we teach ESL only, not a bilingual program.
Question: If not, how do you address direct instruction?
Answer: The theories of second language acquisition answer that question. All
of my teachers have studied these methodologies. I have a master's degree in
TESOL and this is a question I get a lot from company presidents and HR directors:
"How do you teach English if you don't speak all of those languages?" I love
that question! First of all, you rarely have all Spanish speaking
learners in a workplace ESL class. Perhaps in construction or some
kitchens, but in the hotels, it's rare to have all Spanish speakers.
In the last graduation we had last week, we had 9 different countries
and 5 languages spoken.
Question: Do you find that most students are adept at
using technology to find their own translations?
Answer: In my experience, my adult students have their children translate for
them when needed.
To learn more about Workplace ESL Solutions and the classes we teach, as well
as the material we offer for sale, please visit our web site at
www.workplaceesl.com
